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Comparison · 2 models · Updated Nov 2, 2026

Hermes 3 70B Instruct vs solar-mini

solar-mini comes out ahead, 50 to 32 on our weighted score, and it is the cheaper option too.

  1. Nous Research

    Hermes 3 70B Instruct

    Released Aug 18, 2024

    32/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.70 / $0.70
    • Context131K
    Full specs Remove Hermes 3 70B Instruct
  2. Our pick

    Upstage

    solar-mini

    Released Jun 12, 2024

    50/100
    • ECI—
    • Price$0.15 / $0.15
    • Context33K
    Full specs Remove solar-mini

  3. Add a model

    Make it a three-way comparison.

01 — Verdict

solar-mini is our pick

solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Hermes 3 70B Instruct (32). It leads on price and inputs & features. Hermes 3 70B Instruct wins on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

  • CapabilityNot enough dataNo independent benchmark covers every model here yet
  • Lowest pricesolar-minisolar-mini $0.15 · Hermes 3 70B Instruct $0.70 per 1M tokens (3:1 blend)
  • Longest contextHermes 3 70B InstructHermes 3 70B Instruct 131,072 · solar-mini 32,768 tokens
  • Widest inputsSame inputsHermes 3 70B Instruct: Text · solar-mini: Text
  • Self-hostingHermes 3 70B InstructPublishes downloadable weights
How the score is built
MeasureWeightHermes 3 70B Instructsolar-mini
Price50%5585
Inputs & features30%025
Context window20%250
Overall100%32/10050/100

Left out because at least one model lacks the data: capability. The remaining weights were rescaled.

02 — Side by side

Every spec in one table

Highlighted cells lead their row. Dashes mean the data is not published.

Hermes 3 70B Instruct vs solar-mini specifications side by side
SpecificationHermes 3 70B InstructNous Researchsolar-miniUpstage
Capability
Capabilities Index (ECI)——
ECI rank——
Price per million tokens
Input$0.70$0.15 (best)
Output$0.70$0.15 (best)
Cached input——
Blended (3:1)$0.70$0.15 (best)
Long-context rateSame rateSame rate
Price sourceMedian of 5 providersOfficial Upstage API
Limits
Context window131,072 tokens (best)32,768 tokens
Max output16,384 tokens (best)4,096 tokens
Inputs and features
TextYesYes
ImagesNoNo
PDFsNoNo
AudioNoNo
VideoNoNo
ReasoningNoNo
Tool callingNoYes
Structured outputNoNo
Availability
WeightsOpenProprietary
API model ID—solar-mini
API providers5 (best)1
ReleasedAug 18, 2024Jun 12, 2024
Knowledge cutoffDec 31, 2023Sep 2024
03 — Cost

What would a month cost?

Enter your expected volume in millions of tokens. List prices only; caching and batch discounts would lower these.

  • Hermes 3 70B Instruct$8.40
  • solar-mini$1.80
04 — Questions

Which should you choose?

Which is better: Hermes 3 70B Instruct or solar-mini?

solar-mini is the better all-round choice, scoring 50/100 against Hermes 3 70B Instruct (32). It leads on price and inputs & features. Hermes 3 70B Instruct wins on context window. The score weighs price 50%, inputs & features 30%, context window 20%. None of the shared benchmarks cover every model here yet, so capability is left out of this verdict.

Which is cheaper, Hermes 3 70B Instruct or solar-mini?

solar-mini is cheaper at $0.15 input / $0.15 output per million tokens (official Upstage API price). Hermes 3 70B Instruct costs $0.70 input / $0.70 output per million tokens (median across 5 API providers). At a typical mix of three input tokens to one output token, that is $0.15 per million tokens for solar-mini versus $0.70 for Hermes 3 70B Instruct (4.7× as much).

Which scores higher on benchmarks?

There is no independent benchmark that covers both models yet. Hermes 3 70B Instruct has not been scored yet and solar-mini has not been scored yet.

Which is better for coding?

There are no published SWE-bench Verified results for Hermes 3 70B Instruct and solar-mini yet, so there is no like-for-like coding score. Test both on a sample of your own tasks. Note that Hermes 3 70B Instruct does not support tool calling, which most coding agents need.

Which has the bigger context window?

Hermes 3 70B Instruct has the largest context window at 131,072 tokens, against 32,768 for solar-mini. Maximum output per response: Hermes 3 70B Instruct up to 16,384, solar-mini up to 4,096 tokens.

Which can read images, PDFs, audio or video?

Hermes 3 70B Instruct accepts text; solar-mini accepts text. They handle the same number of input types.

Are any of these open source?

Hermes 3 70B Instruct publishes its weights and can be self-hosted; solar-mini is proprietary.

Which is newer?

Hermes 3 70B Instruct is the newest, released Aug 18, 2024. solar-mini came out Jun 12, 2024. Knowledge cutoff: Hermes 3 70B Instruct Dec 31, 2023, solar-mini Sep 2024.

How do you decide the winner?

Each model gets a 0–100 score on capability (50%, independent benchmark results); price (25%, blended price per million tokens (3 input : 1 output), log scale); inputs & features (15%, image, PDF, audio and video input, tool calling, structured output and reasoning); context window (10%, maximum tokens per request, log scale). Dimensions missing for any model are dropped and the remaining weights rescaled, so every model is judged on the same evidence. Specs and prices come from public model listings and the labs’ own API pages; capability scores come from independent benchmark runs. Data updated Nov 2, 2026.

05 — Keep comparing

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